NEW POLICE CHIEF

Evening Star, Issue 22379, 1 July 1936, Page 13

NEW POLICE CHIEF

SUPERINTENDENT CUMMINGS APPOINTED LAWRENCE-BORN OFFICER Superintendent D. J. Cummings, of Wellington,, has been appointed Commissioner of Police as from today. The announcement was made from Feilding last night by the Minister in charge of the Police Department, the Hon. P. Fraser. Mr Cummings, one of the youngest senior officers the New Zealand Police Department has ever had, is generally regarded among his contemporaries as an outstandingly efficient administrator, and an especially capable as well as likeable leader. He first attracted special notice in his days as a sergeant by reason of his high skill as a prosecutor, in which work he brought to bear a considerable legal knowledge gained by extensive reading and study of law and cases, especially in the intricacies of the complicated licensing laws. It was said of him that he knew more law than the lawyers. Nevertheless, he attained a reputation for scrupulous fairness in court among both lawyers and criminals. Even those he had to prosecute bore for him a measure of admiration. As an inspector and superintendent he has enjoyed the respect of all ranks under his command to ail unusual degree, born of his ability to combine authority and discipline with kindliness and understanding toward his men. His abilities as an organiser and leader werl well shown in his resourceful and indefatigable work in overcoming seemingly insurmountable difficulties in administration in the emergency

situation which arose in Napier after the earthquake in 1931, and in the characteristic judgment with which he handled the numerous and delicate problems created by the tramway strike in Christchurch in ,1932. Mr Cummings, both for his personal qualities and his official conduct, has always been highly esteemed in the communities in which he has had to serve, and on his departure from those districts large public meetings were held to express appreciation of his services and to make presentations to him in both Napier and Christchurch. In Christchurch he’left a permanent memorial indicative of his interest in worthy causes in the form of the regular Police-Press Rugby match/ which he inaugurated and which is yearly the means of contributing good sums to very deserving charities. He is a keen follower ot Rugby. Mr Cummings joined the police in 1899, serving as a constable in Wellington. In 1901 he was appointed to the district office staff in Wellington, being associated there with Mr, A. H. Wright, who later became Commissioner _of Police. He was transferred to Christchurch to. take charge of the clerical branch in 1907, remaining there till he was promoted to the position of chief of the Napier office in 1909. In July, 1909, he was promoted to sergeant and placed in charge of the' station at Napier. A transfer to officer-in-charge of the Rotorua police district in 1915 led to promotion to the rank of senior-sergeant at Christchurch in 1917. In 1921 he was made officer-in-charge of the Wairarapa district, and in 1922 he was promoted to sub-inspector in Wellington. In April, 1924, he was raised to the command of the Wellington police district with the rank of inspector, and in 1926 he took control of the Hawke’s Bay area, staying there until early in 1952. In April, 1932, he was promoted to superintendent in Christchurch, and last December was transferred to Wellington upon the retirement of Superintendent A. T. Emerson. He was bo*n in Lawrence, Otago. Beside Mrs Cun; w ’""'*s, there is an adult family of a son and t./o daughters.